


Jesse Pinkman, Babysitter Extraordinaire

by steviatea



Category: Breaking Bad
Genre: Babysitting, Canon Compliant, Friendship, Gen, Lunch, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-18
Updated: 2020-09-18
Packaged: 2021-03-07 18:55:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,194
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26522521
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/steviatea/pseuds/steviatea
Summary: Jesse and Mike's usual road trips take a turn when Mike has to babysit his granddaughter.
Relationships: Mike Ehrmantraut & Jesse Pinkman
Comments: 8
Kudos: 40





	Jesse Pinkman, Babysitter Extraordinaire

"Uh, so, where are we going?"

Jesse's outings with Mike usually involved driving out to the most remote, lifeless corners of New Mexico and its neighboring states. Today, however, Mike had driven Jesse some place completely opposite to that: a neighborhood. Not even a tweaker-filled broken down neighborhood like the one Jesse had recently nearly lost his life in, but a _safe_ , suburban neighborhood. 

"We're taking a little detour today, kid. Is that a problem for you?"

Jesse blinked, eyebrows furrowing as he looked out to the house. It was far too relaxed and suburban to be the kind of place they’d go on a stake-out, or, uh, _meth stake-out._ Whatever was called, Jesse felt a little bit uncertain about what was going on.

“No, man. It’s not a problem. It’s just, uh… I mean, what are we really doing here?”

Mike looked down at his phone -- not a drop phone, but one that looks a bit more _permanent_ than that. It was, _perhaps_ , his own personal phone. Mike had been going on about how they needed to take a long, _long_ drive to take care of some dead drops when he suddenly had a phone call that prompted him to get out of the car and speak in a very hushed voice.

 _This must be serious._ It _must_ be serious. Really, there was no way in hell that Mike couldn't be taking him out to some nice, friendly little suburban neighborhood to murder someone in a secret crackhouse. Sitting here with Mike now, Jesse couldn't help but feel awkward.

He leaned over, looking Mike in the eyes and squinting, whispering in a hushed voice. “Are we gonna kill someone high-profile?”

Mike just scoffed, gently shoving Jesse back into his seat. “Shut up, and keep your voice down.”

“Uh, I was,” Jesse replied with a frown.

There was an annoyed look on Mike’s face that softened in due time and he took a deep breath, sighing heavily. He avoided eye contact momentarily before looking back to Jesse. “How are you with children?”

Jesse blinked, eyebrows raising; he was genuinely surprised by that question. “I’m good with kids. I don’t got any kids of my own, but I have a little brother. His name’s Jake.” God, it had been a while since he'd even _mentioned_ the kid's name. He had no clue what his brother was up to these days, unfortunately. Gesturing loosely to the house the duo has parked in front of, Jesse added, "Yo, so whose house _is_ this?"

"This is my daughter in-law's house," Mike explained in the most flat tone of voice known to man, "The babysitter cancelled on short notice, so we're gonna have to hold off on dead drops and long drives today."

Jesse furrowed his eyebrows, not entirely following. "You're gonna _babysit_ your daughter-in-law?"

Mike grimaced in response, rolling his eyes. "My granddaughter, genius." He seemed to be _done_ with Jesse's shit, but he had the patience of, like, a _crime saint_ or some shit, because he wasn't taking his _annoyance_ out on Jesse like Mr. White most likely would've. "I'm going to babysit my granddaughter. Now, either you sit tight in the car and keep yourself entertained in the most decent, respectable manner, or you join me."

"Respectable manner?" Jesse squinted at Mike, a little offended at the notion that he'd be doing anything other than passing time respectfully. "Of course, I'm gonna be respectful if I sit here. I'll probably just, like, sing really loud until you get back. I gotta keep my totally expert voice in tune, and all that." _Fallacies, fallacies._

"I'll spare you the one-man concert and take you with me," Mike replied with a roll of his eyes. "You gettin' out of the car, or what?"

Jesse just nodded his head, exiting Mike's car. "I'm gettin' out."

Mike was silent as he walked up to his daughter-in-law's home. Jesse followed along, watching as Mike pulled out a key from his pocket and unlocked the front door. The moment Mike unlocked the door, a young girl ran out and practically tackled him with a hug.

"Pop-pop," the girl exclaimed, clearly overjoyed to see her grandfather, "You're here! I missed you so much!"

"Aw," Mike cooed in an uncharacteristically happy tone of voice, wrapping his arms around his granddaughter in a loving embrace. "Of course, I'm here. Pop-pop missed you too, Kaylee."

Jesse had never seen him this enthusiastic before; it was kinda surprising, really. Suddenly, the young girl, who'd been introduced as Kaylee, looked to Jesse and smiled.

"Did you bring a friend?" Kaylee asked.

Mike didn't let go of the hug until Kaylee did. Gesturing towards Jesse, he introduced him. "I did, actually. Kaylee, this is Jesse. He works with me."

"It's nice to meet you, Jesse," Kaylee greeted, looking toward the inside of the house. "Do you like _Hungry Hungry Hippos?"_

"I _do_ like _Hungry Hungry Hippos,_ as a matter of fact," Jesse confirmed, nodding his head. He couldn't help but be reminded a little of Brock, couldn't help but miss his family. He'd have to remember to give Andrea a call later to check up on her.

"Well, let's all head inside, then, and we'll see who the _champion_ of _Hungry Hungry Hippos_ ends up being," Mike stated decisively as he gestured for Jesse to follow inside.

Within about five minutes, Jesse and Kaylee had become engaged in an incredible battle in _Hungry Hungry Hippos._

"Wow, you're good at this," Jesse praised the kid, happy to have something to focus on that wasn't life-threatening. Repetitive motions were helpful for recovering methamphetamine users; admittedly, he was having a lot of fun.

"Thanks," Kaylee replied, absolutely winning in the competition of plastic hippos. She was definitely winning, that was for sure.

"Who wants lunch?" Mike asked, just as Kaylee won. He had a smile on his face, a smile that Jesse hadn't ever seen before. "Pimento cheese sandwiches for everyone. They're all ready in the kitchen."

Kaylee immediately raced toward the kitchen. "I do, I do! I want lunch!"

Jesse would be a dick to turn down free food, especially from Mike, so he joined Mike and Kaylee at the table. "Right on. Thanks for the sandwich, man."

As it turned out, pimento cheese sandwiches were pretty damn good.

It was only about an hour or two before Mike's daughter in law got back home, thus ending the babysitting. After saying goodbye to Kaylee, Jesse returned to Mike's car. Mike soon followed, sitting in the driver's seat and buckling himself in.

"Back to work, then, huh?" Jesse asked, wincing. He wasn't looking forward to more hours of silence.

"Yep, back to work. We've still got a good few hours of daylight left and these dead drops won't _drop_ themselves," Mike replied, returning to his typical tone, less expressive than before. Yet, it seemed that he was a bit more optimistic this time around. Turning to Jesse, he asked, "You want to choose the radio station this time?"

Was Mike granting Jesse radio privileges as a reward for helping out? Jesse grinned, delighted to have gained the older man's approval. "Hell yeah, Mike."


End file.
